AFTER THE sterilisation of dogs having taken place in Mumbai, it is now the turn of birth control programme for cats. The idea of sterilising the cats has been mooted by Alka Kerkar, deputy mayor and senior BJP corporator.

Kerkar, in her proposal, said that the population of stray cats is higher than the population of stray dogs in the city. “While the dogs reproduce twice in a year, the cats reproduce four times in a year. So, the population of cats is higher than that of dogs. BMC had begun with sterilisation of dogs a decade ago and it has resulted in the decline of their population,” said Kerkar.

‘
She further said that a budgetary provision should be made for the sterilisation of the stray cats. “Now, the stray cats are causing nuisance to the citizens. So, there is a public demand that their population should be controlled. Hence, the sterilisation of stray cats is required to curb their population on the lines of stray dogs’ sterilisation,” Kerkar said.

Last year, the civic body had carried out a survey of stray dogs which revealed that their number has gone down from 74,000 in 2007 to 66,087. the civic officials said it is due to their effective sterilisation techniques. We have not yet taken a call on the sterilisation of stray cats, said an official.

Interestingly, Shiv Sena corporator Abhishek Ghosalkar had recently moved a proposal demanding the sterilisation of pigeons using a drug. . Subsequently, BMC, stating that it does fall under the civic body’s jurisdiction, has written to the Food and Drugs Administration to implement the proposal since it requires a drug. “Such proposals will rise in the coming months due to the civic elections to be held next year. The corporators will do it to show their work,” ,” said a civic official.